SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs - socom 3 glitches

SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs, released on October 11, 2005 for the PlayStation 2 gaming console, is the sequel to the prior games SOCOM and SOCOM II. IGN called it "the best online PlayStation 2 game yet" in their review[1], but the game has lots of changes over the two previous titles. While some players of the previous games have expressed their disapproval, SOCOM 3 has attracted over forty thousand simultaneous players.[2]

New and changed features
SOCOM 3's online and single player modes have new interfaces.
Accessories, including scopes, grenade launchers and rifle lasers, can be added to weapons.
Players can swim and operate vehicles, including trucks, M1025s (as suggested on the game's cover art), dune buggies, technicals and tanks.
Its single player mode is much larger than those of the previous SOCOM games.
Online multiplayer games now support up to 32 players (16 for each of the two competing teams, the SEALs and the Terrorists) in one game. (This allows scenarios with full 16-SEAL "platoons" for the first time in SOCOM series history.)
Hit detection has been greatly updated.
Many other character movement features have been added.
Maps no longer have set game modes; the various modes (demolition, extraction, suppression, etc.) can now be played on any map.
Certain weapons including the assault rifles, the IW-80-A2 and the STG77, as well as the ranged explosive, ZX7-Airburst attachment must be earned for online use by completing the single player portion of the game at a certain difficulty. The front grip (or pistol grip) and the medium scope (capable of 3x and 8x magnification) are attachments that also fall under this category.

Online account verification
Zipper Interactive decided to require SOCOM 3 players to verify their identities by using a credit card. If the players do not verify themselves, they will neither be granted ranks, nor allowed to join friends' lists, ranked games or even clans. It was a controversial decision; many players have responded with ire on the game's official message boards, and several have formed online petitions to protest the change.

The SOCOM blog, set up by the Sony Playstation team to give players a look at the making of the game[3], stated that this was meant to keep SOCOM cheaters away from the game[4], but it has not stopped cheaters. The cheaters can also use credit cards to log on and freely exploit game glitches, since no one monitors matches. Zipper, however, does encourage using the ingame exploit forums to report cheaters. As of February 2006, bans have been made, indicating that Zipper's credit card verification system has been at least marginally effective.

Ranking system
The SOCOM 3 ranking system uses many more naval ranks than the previous versions, including most of the enlisted and officer naval ranks. The requirements for attaining higher rank when you start as an enlisted Seaman is different from the system used by the officers. Advancement in the enlisted ranks is attained by playing in full games, regardless of the outcome.[5]

Enlisted Ranks[4]
Rank Number of games played
Seaman Recruit 0-4
Seaman Apprentice 5-14
Seaman 15-24
Petty Officer Third Class 25-39
Petty Officer Second Class 40-54
Petty Officer First Class 55-74
Chief Petty Officer 75-100

After completing 75 games and having 50 wins, the player is moved to the officer rankings, where rank is determined by the player's place in the game ladder. For example, the lowest rank of Ensign is assigned to the lowest 19%.[4]

Officer Ranks[4]
Grades Rank Distance from top of Officer Ladder
Junior Grades Ensign 81-100%
Lieutenant Junior Grade 66-80%
Lieutenant 51-65%
Mid Grades Lieutenant Commander 41-50%
Commander 31-40%
Captain 21-30%
Flag Grades Rear Admiral Lower Half 11-20%
Rear Admiral Upper Half 6-10%
Vice Admiral 2-5%
Admiral 0-1%
Fleet Admiral Top 10 players

However, the ranking system has encountered a few problems.

Bugs
Some unfixed bugs are still left in the game.

As of November 2005
Vehicles
A player killed by gunfire will be considered "killed" again if they are run over by a vehicle before their dying animation is complete.
Ranking system
Some players' stats are unrecorded for various reasons.
Boundary Exploitation
It is possible to get to certain locations outside the "edge" of the map. This may be done by drifting the vehicle towards the location you wish to get to, in addition to other means.
Players are able to go inside boxes, and similar objects that have no obvious entrance.
Through a glitch, players are able walk in the sky above other players. These "skywalkers" are very tough to hit from the ground.
Sounds
Single shots are played sounding like multiple shots. (This doesn't occur when using the single-shot firemode.)
If a door is opened on one part of a map, all players can hear its sound, regardless of their location.
Player Outfits
A Seal may have the weapons and outfits of a Terrorist, or vice-versa. This glitch may be either achieved intentionally or unintentionally, but some players have learned to exploit this.

Current bugs
Spectator Players
As of late January, players have managed to access the armory as a Spectator. When they enter the game they cannot be seen by anyone unless one joins a game late with a "Spec Killer" having already done the glitch, They can move around undetected and kill anyone they wish. Only explosives and vehicles can kill them. The spectator is not listed on either team's roster but still recieves kills, deaths, wins and losses as a normal player.
Under Map
Some players have managed to get under the specified map and cannot be killed by the normal player. These players once under the map can kill any player on the map if they are visible. The glitch user must go back under the map every new round or game (they dont stay under the map forever). The player once under the map may not get out unless the round or game ends.

Patches
On December 22, 2005, Zipper Interactive released its first SOCOM 3 patch, which addressed disconnects, ignored weapon selections, some voice chat issues, ladder bugs, skywalking and other serious bugs. It also removed the ability to create 1-round ranked games.[6]

Another patch was released March 16th, 2006.This patch fixes several menu glitches like the cursor dissapiring and improves the voting system.

Downloadable Maps
Zipper has recently announced that new downloadable maps will be available in March to coincide with the new downloadable patch. The maps are said to be upgraded versions of the maps Last Bastion, After Hours, and Liberation, all of which were only previously playable in SOCOM II if they were downloaded from demo discs from a game magazine and put onto the PS2 HDD. Since the HDD has ceased to be supported by Sony, Zipper has said that the new downloadable maps will be available only through SOCOM 3 Online and can be saved onto an external USB Hard Drives (Or the PSP).

Provided by wikipedia.org